A Life Without Magic (AU)
by spiderwithatophat
Summary: What if Cleo, Rikki, and Emma never became mermaids?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Cleo!"

A male voice rang out through the docks, loud and clear. Cleo Sertori's eyes were quick to zone in on the source: Zane Bennett. He was an attractive guy, but it was only skin deep. In actuality, he was just another spoilt rich kid with no consideration for anyone but himself.

"Hey Cleo!" he called out again. The girl in question whipped her head around, wondering whether he was talking to her or to some other girl who went by the same name, but there was no one else around.

"Yes, that Cleo," Zane said in an amused tone, and Cleo turned back around to see him with a grin on his face.

"I'm in some trouble here," he continued, glancing down at his boat. "Can you help?"

"Uh, I don't think so," Cleo replied shaking her head sceptically, and began to back away.

"Come on," Zane pleaded, but by this time Cleo's pace had hastened into a sprint. She didn't care to socialise with the likes of him, and besides, she wasn't good with boats.

* * *

Rikki Chadwick stood on the jetty across from Zane, watching him silently. She was somewhat relieved Cleo hadn't fallen for what he'd been saying; she didn't know her very well but she seemed like a nice girl and she didn't deserve to be the victim of one of Zane's pathetic stunts.

Rikki continued watching as Nate appeared and started chatting with Zane. She couldn't quite decipher what they were saying from this distance, but she knew enough to figure that they were most likely discussing who Zane should play his prank on instead of Cleo. He certainly wouldn't be attempting to play it on Nate. Rikki had only moved to this area about a month ago, but she had already gathered that Nate was Zane's best friend and partner in crime, so to speak, and that he had been, and would continue to be, for a very long time.

Suddenly, Rikki saw a flash of pink out of the corner of her eye and Zane started to smile and wave at someone. It was his girlfriend, Miriam Kent - dressed entirely in pink, as per usual. Rikki sighed. She was sure that Zane had already decided to make Miriam his new victim. One would think even _he_ wouldn't be so cruel as to do something like that to his own girlfriend, but that kind of thing never seemed to have stopped him before.

And as it turned out, Rikki was right. She watched as the scene played out before her eyes. Again, she was too far away to hear what they were saying, but it was pretty obvious what was about to happen when Miriam stepped onto the boat and sat down. She appeared to be too busy gazing into Zane's sparkling eyes to realise that Nate was bending down to untie the Zodiac, although she eventually did notice once the boat actually started to move.

"What's going on?!" Miriam yelled (that, Rikki _could_ hear), standing up.

Zane and Nate high-fived, laughing.

"Why me, Zane? I'm your _girlfriend!"_ Miriam exclaimed.

"Because you're here, Miriam!" Zane grinned.

Miriam gave a look of disgust, which quickly changed to defeat when she realised she wasn't going to get out of this situation any time soon. She sat down. Rikki supposed it was time for her part now. She considered leaving Miriam to figure things out on her own - she was just as bad as Zane, after all, and she completely deserved it. But Rikki was technically responsible and _she_ certainly _wasn't_ like Zane, so she felt compelled to help out.

As the boat drifted near to her, she took a running jump and leapt onto it.

Miriam screamed.

"What are you doing?" she asked, scowling, once she had composed herself.

Rikki held up the spark plug she had stolen from Zane.

"What is that?" Miriam asked.

Rikki rolled her eyes. She wanted to say, "Of course _you_ wouldn't know," but decided against it, instead opting to ignore her and reconnect the spark plug to the engine. A moment of silence passed between them before the engine started running.

"Hold on," Rikki said, sitting down in the driver's seat. Miriam reluctantly moved to the side to make space for her. Rikki steered the boat around and drove it back in the direction it had come from, speeding up when they went past Zane, causing droplets of water to fly up into the air and drench him.

He held up his arms to shield himself, and when he moved them away, Rikki smiled to herself at his expression. She even thought she saw a smile tug at Miriam's lips.

If she'd been on the boat with someone else, Rikki might have taken them for a ride, but she figured Miriam wanted to be stuck on a boat with her even less than she wanted to be stuck on a boat with Miriam, so she parked the boat and stepped out onto the jetty. Miriam followed suit, and walked away without so much as a thank you.

Rikki raised an eyebrow, but didn't let it dampen her mood as she walked past a soaking wet Zane.

Zane grabbed her by the arm and hissed, "You'll pay for this."

Rikki shrugged, a smug smile on her face, and walked away.

* * *

 **Sooooo, I'm not actually sure if this is any good, but I've been planning to write it for a really long time, so here goes. If you didn't gather, what basically happened is that Cleo guessed that Zane was trying to trick her and left, so she never got on Zane's boat and she, Emma, and Rikki never became mermaids. And throughout the story is my take on how things might have turned out if they never became mermaids (and if it wasn't a kid's show too lmao). Let me know what you think; constructive criticism welcome. Hope you guys enjoyed it! :)**

 **(Also sorry if it was a bit on the short side, it's just 'cause it's the prologue, the other chapters will most likely be longer.)**


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

Emma Gilbert gazed at the waves crashing in front of her, half-smiling, a somewhat awestruck look in her gleaming eyes. She'd lived by the beach for sixteen years (i.e., her entire life) and she still couldn't get over how amazing it was: the way there were millions upon millions of grains of sand, and water so deep that diving too far down could crush you. Not that she particularly liked the idea of being crushed, but it was still interesting to think about.

She placed her bag on the sand, and dropped the towel that was wrapped around her beside it, revealing the bright blue bikini she was wearing. Then she ran towards the water, leaving a trail of small footprints behind her.

Emma had always loved swimming; it came to her just as easily as walking, if not even _more_ easily. She'd been training to be a swimmer since she was six months old, after all. She'd never missed a swim meet in her life - not even when she'd broken her wrist a few years earlier. She'd swum with one arm. That's how dedicated she was. That's how much she _loved_ it.

Emma dove underwater, enjoying the feeling of bubbles streaming past her. She swam a little way along, eventually resurfacing when she felt the need for oxygen. But just as her head rose above the surface, an odd feeling overcame her. She couldn't quite place her finger on what it was, but it was almost as if her subconscious was trying to tell her that something was about to happen.

She frowned, but continued swimming, and tried to lose herself in it as she usually did. But for once, she couldn't.

As she climbed out of the water and made her way back to where she had left her things, Emma still couldn't shake the feeling that something out of the ordinary was supposed to happen. But nothing ever did.

* * *

 _She was floating in the ocean, craning her neck upward to look at the fluffy wisps of white that were scattered across the endless span of bright blue sky. As she watched, the colour darkened to a royal blue, and the pale tendrils drifted away to reveal twinkling stars dotted around and, of course, the colossal full moon that loomed high above the golden sand, green wildlife, and crystal rivers which made up Mako Island._

 _She was normally afraid of the water, especially in an area like Mako which was surrounded by the vicious sharks that it got its name from. Tonight however, instead of being scared or anxious, she felt peaceful, as if she had just come home after a long day of school and begun to relax and unwind. And she saw the sharks as her friends. The gentle waves lulled her into a sleepy state, and she felt safe._

 _Then, suddenly, something changed. She couldn't feel her legs. She tried to move them, but it was as if they were merged into one. She flailed in the water, trying to free herself from whatever had her trapped, but it was to no avail._

A knock sounded at the door, and she woke up.

Cleo coughed and spluttered, thrashing around. She glanced at her tanned legs stretched out in front of her - she was in the bath. It was just a dream. She leant over and turned off the tap that had managed to turn itself on while she was asleep.

"Come on Cleo! You can't stay in there forever!" shouted Kim, her annoying kid sister.

"All right, all right!" Cleo yelled back. She rolled her eyes as she stood up, her legs shaking slightly, and stepped out of the bathtub.

* * *

"Hey Em," Cleo said after pressing 'accept call' and holding her phone up to her ear.

"Hey Cleo," Emma replied. "Are you busy today?"

"Um…" Cleo glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall, opposite where she was sitting. "Lewis is coming round to help me with biology at nine. We could meet up at the café after, though. Lewis and I will probably be done by twelve."

"Sounds good," Emma agreed. "I'll see you there."

"Wait," Cleo blurted out before Emma could hang up, then stopped short. Should she tell her about what happened in the bath, or would Emma just think she was crazy?

"Is everything okay?" Emma asked.

"Yeah, it's just… Something really weird happened earlier, when I was in the bath," Cleo began to explain hesitantly.

"What happened?" Emma asked curiously.

"Well, I fell asleep, and I had this dream… about Mako Island. I was swimming, in the sea, and I wasn't scared or anything. In fact, it was almost relaxing. But then I started to panic and I woke up coughing."

There was no response.

"Emma? You still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. I was just - thinking."

It was Cleo's turn to be curious. "About what?"

"Something strange happened to me this morning too. I actually _was_ swimming in the sea - not by Mako Island, though - and I got this really strange feeling, as if something… out of the ordinary was going to happen. Nothing happened, but I couldn't shake the feeling."

"Wow," Cleo said. "Coincidence." She paused. "You don't think it was… _more_ than a coincidence, do you?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Emma snapped. Cleo couldn't help but smile at her friend's antics. Emma had always been the reasonable, logical, level-headed, there's-a-simple-explanation-for-everything one.

A knock came at the door: Lewis. "I have to go," Cleo said. "Lewis is here."

"See you later at the JuiceNet," Emma said, and cut off the call.

* * *

"So the mRNA carries codes from the DNA in the nucleus to the sites of protein synthesis in the cytoplasm."

Cleo nodded at what Lewis was saying - _whatever_ he was saying. She had no clue what he was talking about. She knew what a cell was but everything after that was just a blur of science-y jargon and Lewis's floppy blonde hair falling across his eyes… and him pushing it back out of the way… leaving her gazing into the sparkling blue pool of… his eyes…

"Cleo."

A voice broke into her thoughts.

"Hmm?" Cleo asked, snapping back to reality.

Lewis sighed. Cleo was his closest friend but she was a lot of work sometimes. "Cleo, how do you expect to pass biology if you don't pay any attention to me when we're studying for it?"

Cleo looked back down sheepishly. "I _was_ paying attention. But then you just kept droning on and on about _biology_ , and… it's just so boring."

Lewis spoke in a condescending tone. "If you want to flunk biology then be my guest, but-"

"Lewis," Cleo cut him off firmly. Then she sighed. "I'm sorry. I've just been… distracted, today."

"You know if there's anything you want to talk about, I'm always here for you," Lewis said, gazing earnestly into her eyes.

Cleo nodded. "I know. But there's nothing I need to talk about right now. Anyway, I don't think we're going to get any studying done today. Can we reschedule?"

Lewis sighed inwardly, but nodded. "Sure. Same time tomorrow?"

Grinning, Cleo nodded again. "I knew I could count on you, Lewis."

"You always can," he said.

"Anyway," Cleo started, standing up from her seat at the kitchen table, "I need to get ready to meet Emma. You can see yourself out, right?"

"Right," Lewis agreed dismally, picking up his things.

"Right. See you later." Cleo flashed another quick grin and ran upstairs.

* * *

"I just don't get biology," Cleo complained, sitting opposite Emma in a booth at the JuiceNet.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Well if you'd actually listen to Lewis when he tries to help you with it, maybe you _would_ get it."

"I _do_ listen," Cleo protested, causing Emma to raise an eyebrow. "Okay, fine, maybe I don't. But it's so boring."

"I can help you with it, if you want," Emma offered. "Maybe it's just the way Lewis teaches it."

"No," Cleo said, a little too quickly. "I mean, Lewis is fine. He's a good teacher."

A smile tugged at Emma's lips.

"Do you wanna go somewhere else?" Cleo changed the subject, staring into the bottom of her empty glass, having finished her juice.

"Sure, like where?" Emma asked.

"The shopping centre," Cleo suggested.

"All right," Emma agreed.

The girls picked up their belongings and exited the café together.


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

The azure sky was cloudless. The sun shone brightly down onto the luscious green grass and created the perfect temperature. It caused the trees to cast long shadows, also creating the perfect amount of shade. It was a beautiful day.

Then the sprinkler turned on.

Rikki watched as drops of water flew through the air, sure they were about to hit her, when she felt someone pulling her back out of the way.

"Miriam!" Rikki exclaimed in surprise. "Um, what are you doing here?"

"Can't I go for a morning walk?" Miriam inquired innocently.

"Well, yeah, but…" Rikki trailed off, racking her brain for a polite way to put it. Ah, screw it - when had she ever cared about being polite? "Why are you talking to me?"

Miriam blinked. "Look, Rikki, I realise I may have been a little harsh towards you yesterday, but I've been thinking. If it weren't for you stealing Zane's… whatever that thing was, I never would have realised how much of a jerk he is. Plus, you saved me from getting stranded in the middle of the sea. So… I kinda owe you. If you want, we could be… friends?"

Rikki wasn't quite sure what to say. On the one hand it was a nice offer, especially coming from Miriam of all people. But was it even a genuine one? Or was it just some convoluted plan she'd come up with that would result in Rikki being completely and utterly humiliated?

Miriam looked at her expectantly, and Rikki slowly found herself giving in. "Yeah, I guess."

"Great!" Miriam smiled. "So, do you want to come to the mall with me and Tiffany later?"

Rikki shrugged. "I - don't have much money."

"Not a problem," Miriam replied. "I can pay for whatever you'd like."

Rikki shook her head. "No, you don't have to do that-"

"I do," Miriam said. "You did save me yesterday, after all."

"Well… all right," Rikki accepted reluctantly, immediately regretting it.

This was going to be a painful experience.

* * *

"Hey Rikki, you should try this one on," Miriam suggested, holding up a pale pink dress. Rikki's eyes widened. Did people seriously wear these things?

"Um…" Rikki shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Trust me, it will suit you," Miriam insisted. She let out a sigh when Rikki didn't respond. "At least try on _something_. Choose something for yourself. Whatever you want, even if it's the most hideous thing in the store."

Rikki glanced around her, but couldn't see anything remotely her style. Needless to say, this wasn't the kind of shop she usually bought her clothes from.

"I need to go to the toilet," she eventually said. It was a blatant lie, but anything to get her out of this situation was worth it.

"Do you want me and Tiffany to come?" Miriam asked.

Rikki shook her head, perhaps a bit too quickly. "No, it's okay. You wait here. I won't be long."

Miriam nodded, seemingly a little relieved she could stay here and continue shopping, and went back to Tiffany. As Rikki started to make her way out of the shop, she glanced at the two girls admiring girly dresses together, then down at her own red jeans and baggy black shirt. She didn't belong here, and there was no point in pretending like she did.

* * *

Rikki didn't need to use the toilet, but she figured there was no harm in splashing a little water on her face to wake herself up a bit - she'd gotten hardly any sleep last night. There'd been something niggling at her mind and distracting her from sleeping, though she wasn't sure what it was.

Once she'd actually located the ladies' toilets in the mall, she stood in front of a sink and looked at her reflection in the mirror hanging on the wall above it. She found herself wondering why Miss Popularity wanted to hang out with a misfit such as herself.

As Rikki thought about this, she heard the door swing open behind her, and watched in the mirror as two girls her own age entered. It was Cleo - the girl from the day before - and her friend. Emily? Emma? Rikki wasn't sure what her name was, but she did know that the two girls were inseparable.

Rikki turned the tap on and held her hands under it, waiting for the water to get cooler before splashing it on her face. But, the instant it touched her hands, a weird feeling came over her, hypnotising her into a dream-like state.

"Are you okay?" a concerned voice broke the spell, and Rikki realised Cleo was standing behind her. She managed to summon up the power to nod then briskly exited the toilets.

* * *

Lewis didn't get Cleo. Every time he thought they were getting closer, she did something to push him away. Did she like him or not? Girls were so confusing.

That was part of the reason he decided to go to his secret fishing spot; it was quiet there - a good place to think. No one else knew about it. At least, he hadn't thought they did until he turned up there to see a blonde girl sitting alone on the rocks.

Lewis found himself staring at her. She was hugging her knees to her chest, staring out to sea, her curly hair whipping around her from the wind. She seemed to realise she was being watched, though, as she tore her gaze away from the sea and turned around to look at Lewis.

She stood up. "I was just leaving," she muttered.

"You don't have to," Lewis said.

She looked hesitant, but eventually sat back down. Lewis sat next to her.

"I thought I was the only one who knew about this place," he mused.

"You probably were, until about ten minutes ago," the girl replied.

They sat in silence until Lewis asked, "What are you doing here, by yourself?"

She shrugged. "I was shopping with some friends, but… it wasn't really my scene."

"Oh," Lewis replied lamely.

More silence.

"I'm Lewis," Lewis introduced himself.

"I know," the girl said.

Lewis frowned. "How?"

The girl shrugged again. "I've seen you around school."

"Oh," he said again.

"You're Cleo's boyfriend, right?"

Lewis looked surprised. Was that what people thought? "I - no. Not her boyfriend. Just her friend."

The girl looked sceptical but nodded. "What are _you_ doing here, then?"

"What?" Lewis asked.

"I told you why I was here. Your turn."

"I came here to think, I guess."

"About what?"

"Something. Some _one_."

"Cleo," the girl guessed.

"Maybe."

"What happened?"

"Nothing. She's just… confusing."

The girl nodded. "Don't worry, we're all like that."

Lewis mustered up a small smile, but it quickly faded.

"You really like her?" the girl asked.

"Yeah." Lewis didn't know why he was telling a total stranger all of this.

"Tell her."

He looked doubtful. "You think I should?"

The girl nodded again. "I know you should."

"Maybe I will."

The girl stood up. "I should go."

This time, Lewis let her go. It was only after he'd watched her walk so far that she was completely out of his line of sight that he realised he hadn't even gotten her name.

* * *

 **Guest: Thanks for your review, and as for your question, yes, Ash will be in this story, later on. All the characters from the show will be in it, although things may play out a little (or a lot) differently from their original storylines.**

 **Hopefully you guys liked this chapter. Again, it may not be too exciting yet, but it will get better over the next few chapters once I've set everything out. I mean, I** _ **think**_ **it will get better, but don't hold me to that 'cause the entire thing might end up being really boring. Um, not to say that you shouldn't read it or anything because I'm sure it** _ **will**_ **get better…**

 **Okay bye.**

 **PS. If it wasn't clear, the girl Lewis was talking to at the end was Rikki.**


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

"Now it's party time, people!" Miriam exclaimed as she walked through the crowds of people at their lockers, Tiffany by her side, Rikki trailing behind the two. "No excuses," she added. "In honour of our very own surfing god, the beautiful Byron, for winning his special prize."

Cleo stood by her locker, watching Miriam dubiously. "What prize?" she asked.

"Whatever it is they give out for surfing," Miriam replied, waving a hand dismissively.

"The Coast Surf Classic," Emma told Cleo. "He won by a mile."

"I was having spray tan," Miriam said, "but I'm sure he was amazing."

As Miriam and Tiffany strutted on, with Rikki still following somewhat less enthusiastically than them (i.e., head down, hands in her pockets), Lewis joined Emma and Cleo at their lockers.

"Who's that with Miriam and Tiffany?" Lewis asked, having recognised her as the girl from the beach, whose name he had never found out.

"Rikki something," Emma said. "Why?"

Lewis shrugged, looking down awkwardly; he hadn't told his friends about his encounter with her. He wasn't really sure why, he just wanted to keep it to himself. "No reason. She just doesn't seem like the type of person who would be hanging out with Miriam," he said eventually.

Emma snorted. "How would you know? You didn't even know her name until just now."

Lewis simply shrugged again.

"Now don't forget girls," Miriam said, turning back around, "bring your best bikinis. It's a pool party."

As she and the other two walked past Lewis, Rikki looked up and noticed him watching her. She raised an eyebrow at him slightly and glanced pointedly at Cleo, who was now chatting with Emma, then back to him, conveying a silent message with her eyes. Then she looked back down at the ground.

Lewis thought back to the conversation they'd had on the beach.

 _Tell her._

Lewis turned to the girls. "Hey, Cleo," he interrupted their conversation, "are you going to Miriam's party?"

"Of course I'm going," Cleo smiled.

"Right, well uh, seeing as you're going, I was thinking, we should, you know… go together."

Cleo's smile widened. "Yeah, we should."

Lewis grinned back. Was that really all he'd had to do the whole time? Just ask her?

Then she turned to her other side. "Emma, you in?"

Lewis's face fell.

Emma shot Lewis a sympathetic glance, then looked back to Cleo. "Yeah, sure. Come on, we don't want to be late for class."

* * *

"You're here again," Lewis said, setting his fishing gear down on the sand and sitting next to Rikki.

"That's very observant of you," she replied.

He rolled his eyes. "Haha."

"So. Told her yet?" Rikki didn't have to say her name or what he was supposed to have told her for him to know what she was talking about.

"Well, I asked her to the party."

"And?"

"She said yes."

Rikki grinned. "See. I told you it would work out."

"But she thought I meant as friends."

Rikki frowned. "Oh. Maybe she's just one of those girls you have to really spell it out for?" she suggested.

"Maybe," he said.

"But," she drawled, "I get the feeling you're not going to be doing that anytime soon."

"Absolutely not," Lewis agreed. "Anyway, are you going to Miriam's party?"

"Well, I think she would be disappointed if her new best friend didn't turn up."

"Oh, right. What are you doing hanging out with her and Tiffany?"

Rikki shrugged. "It's complicated."

"I've got time," Lewis said.

Rikki sighed. "Well, I sort of stole Zane's spark plug so his boat wouldn't start, and he decided it was the perfect opportunity to play a prank on someone. And that someone just so happened to be Miriam. So I ended up saving her from floating out to sea, and now she seems to think she owes me some debt of gratitude. As if the only way she could ever repay me is to bestow upon me the honour of being her friend."

"Ah," Lewis replied. "How very noble of her."

Rikki smirked. "Of course." Then, briefly glancing at her watch, she stood up. "Well, I've gotta go. Things to do."

Lewis stood up too. "I'll walk you."

"Hm. Chivalrous. But no, you stay here and…" she paused, looking down at his fishing gear and wrinkling her nose, "fish."

He smiled. "I guess I'll see you around then."

She smiled back. "I guess so."

* * *

Rikki's eyes widened as she stepped out into Miriam's back garden. She'd known her family was rich, but this was just… _wow_. Of course, she'd just been inside the house, and it seemed logical that the awestruck effect should have dulled by now, but somehow the outside seemed even more amazing. Perhaps it was the pool. Rikki had never known anyone with a pool before, let alone been friends with them. Not that she could call Miriam a friend, exactly.

She had managed to avoid coming round Miriam's house before now, but it was finally the day of the pool party and so she was obliged to not only attend the actual party, but also to arrive early to help set up.

"So, you can just set that down on the table over here," Miriam said, joining Rikki outside. Rikki nodded, broken out of her trance, and placed the tray of food she was holding alongside the rest of the food. Her hands now free, she leant back against the table, watching as Tiffany came outside with more food.

"Aren't you going to put your bikini on?" Miriam asked Rikki, giving her red shirt and black trousers a once-over. Clearly it wasn't the attire Miriam would expect anyone to wear in the first place, let alone to a pool party.

Rikki shook her head. "I probably won't actually be going in the pool, so…"

Miriam raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. Then she disappeared back inside the house.

* * *

An hour later, the party was in full swing. There was a group of girls in bikinis lounging at the poolside, gossiping about absolutely everything and anything that came to mind, a group of guys messing about in the pool, and various smaller groups of friends standing around, chatting. Emma, Cleo, and Lewis were part of that last one. Although, really, it was more of Emma and Cleo chatting whilst Lewis stood, glumly, at their side.

Emma couldn't help but feel sorry for Lewis. It was obvious he liked Cleo as more than a friend, and it was obvious Cleo returned those feelings, but neither of them had ever acted on them. At least, not until Lewis had asked Cleo to the party. Emma had been sure this meant they were finally getting somewhere, but of course Cleo thought he had meant as friends, and invited Emma along too.

"I'll be right back," Emma said, suddenly.

"Where are you going?" Cleo asked.

"Oh, just somewhere," Emma said vaguely. "You two stay here and chat."

Emma knew Lewis had intended for him and Cleo to go to the party as a couple. Maybe if she left them alone for a while, it would give him a chance to tell her that. Besides, Emma didn't really mind missing any of the party. The only reason she'd wanted to come was to support Byron, and he wasn't even there.

Cleo shrugged and began chatting with Lewis, and Emma slipped out of the back gate and started down the road. She didn't really have a destination in mind but, as usually happened whenever she began wandering aimlessly, she ended up at the beach. She'd always loved it there.

As she strolled by the sea, she noticed a figure with curly blonde hair running by her, carrying a surfboard.

"Byron!" she called out to him, and he turned around.

He grinned at her. "Hey, Emma."

"Why aren't you at the party?" she asked.

"Huh?" He frowned, seemingly confused.

"The pool party," Emma elaborated. "The one Miriam's putting on for you?"

"Miriam?" Byron echoed. "She's the blonde one, right?" He paused as Emma laughed at his lax attitude. "Parties aren't really my thing," he added. "Anyway, I'd best be off. Places to be, waves to surf..."

"I can see that," Emma said, glancing down at his surfboard. "Nice board."

"Thanks," Byron replied. "Maybe I could teach you to surf sometime, in exchange for some swimming lessons from the expert?"

Emma smiled. "We'll have to see about that."

Byron smiled back. "See you later, Em."

Emma gazed at him as he ran towards the sea.

* * *

"Rikki, can you go and get some more drinks from inside?" Miriam asked. Under different circumstances Rikki might have argued that she wasn't Miriam's slave, but it wasn't like she had anything better to do at the moment.

She went inside, in search of the drinks, and when she found them she made her way back to the garden and placed them on the table.

"Look who it is," someone said from behind her, and Rikki whirled around, only to see Zane and Nate smirking at her. "Just when we wanted a bit of fun."

She rolled her eyes. "What do you want, Zane?"

"Oh, I was just thinking," he said, slowly stepping closer to her with Nate following. "You had a good laugh when I got soaked last week. Now it's your turn."

Rikki turned her head and noticed more of Zane's friends closing in on her from behind. Great. "Wow, Zane," she said, "I didn't think even _you_ were this pathetic."

This only caused him to laugh. "Come on," he sneered. "Swim time. You're going in."

* * *

Lewis was leaning back against the wall, chatting to Cleo. Emma had been with them but she'd disappeared about ten minutes ago. He wasn't entirely sure where she'd gone, but he was grateful as it gave him a chance to talk to Cleo alone. And it was going pretty well, he thought.

Then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye: Zane and his friends standing by the edge of the pool, holding someone over the water, about to throw her in. He straightened up when he realised it was Rikki.

"Let her go, Zane!" he called out. He wasn't sure what compelled him to do so, but it would have felt wrong if he'd just watched them and not done anything about it, especially after Rikki had tried to help him with Cleo. Even if his plan to ask Cleo to the party hadn't exactly worked out the way he hoped, he still owed Rikki at least this.

"If you insist!" Zane yelled back, and Rikki was suddenly in the air, falling into the water.

"Do you even have a brain?" Lewis yelled, anger overcoming him. He began to walk towards Zane but Cleo grabbed his arm, pulling him back, stopping him from doing anything stupid.

"You told me to let her go," Zane said. "I let her go."

"What the heck is going on here?" someone demanded - Miriam. "Zane? What are you even doing here?"

"You invited me," Zane replied, grinning.

"Yeah, and then I _un_ invited you, remember?"

"Oh, well, who needs an invitation?"

"Zane, just get out," Miriam said.

His grin dissipated. "Miriam-"

"Just go!" she cut him off.

He rolled his eyes. "Come on boys. Let's get out of here."

As he and his friends left through the back gate, Miriam rushed towards the pool, leaning down to help Rikki out.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Rikki was surprised at how genuine her concern seemed. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine," she replied as she got out of the pool. "Just a bit wet, obviously."

Miriam sighed as Rikki. "Sorry about Zane. I don't know what I ever saw in him."

Rikki shook her head. "Don't apologise, it's not your fault. Anyway, I should probably go home and get changed."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Miriam asked.

"No, stay here. You shouldn't miss your own party."

Rikki smiled at Lewis on her way out, silently thanking for him for standing up for her. Lewis smiled back. Cleo found herself frowning at this exchange.

Rikki didn't bother coming back. She'd never liked pool parties anyway.

* * *

 **I feel like I should put it out there that, firstly, I have no set update schedule, I just update when I feel like it or when I have time, so sometimes it might take weeks for me to update, sometimes it might just take a day. Secondly, none of these chapters have been edited, so if the writing seems a bit rough it's because it is. Anyhow;**

 **Guest who is obsessed with Ash: I can tell you are obsessed with Ash. Also, thanks for reviewing. :)**

 **Other guest: Thanks for your review. :)**

 **mermaidbyheart: Ikr, Rikki's great, she'll feature a** _ **lot**_ **in this story too. ;) Obviously Emma and Cleo are main characters too, but if I had to say just one character was the main character in this fanfic I'd have to say Rikki, although that might change later on. Thanks for reviewing. :)**


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

"So have you decided what time for the party tonight?" Cleo asked Emma, holding her mobile phone against her ear with her left hand whilst placing fish into a bucket with her right hand, as preparation to feed the dolphins.

Emma shifted her position on her bed, crossing her legs then uncrossing them again. "I'm working out all the details now. I was thinking we could meet up at the JuiceNet to check over who's invited and everything."

"Sure, when I get off work," Cleo replied.

"Oh, yeah, today's your first day at the Marine Park, isn't it? How's that going?" Emma asked. She felt a little guilty to have forgotten.

"Pretty good," said Cleo, nodding even though Emma couldn't see her. "At least, I think so. Hopefully Mrs Geddes - my boss - thinks the same."

"I'm sure she does," Emma affirmed.

"I hope you're right. Wouldn't want to get fired on my first day," Cleo said. Then, she heard the door open, and looked up to see Mrs Geddes walking in. "Em, I've got to go," she said hastily and hung up the phone, and shoved it back into her pocket.

Cleo picked up the two buckets she had filled and Mrs Geddes led her outside. "Put the buckets down over there," she said, gesturing to a small platform, "and just throw the food out to them. I have to attend to something else, but I'm sure you'll be able to manage this much on your own." She flashed Cleo a brief but encouraging smile, then walked off in another direction, her heels clicking against the ground with each step she took.

Cleo stepped onto the platform and placed the buckets down in front of her, then got to work. It didn't take her long to finish feeding the dolphins the contents of one of the buckets, and once she was done, she took the two buckets out to where the dolphin show was currently going on. As she passed the full bucket to one of the workers standing on the side, she watched the dolphins leap out of the water, ever so elegantly. It was her dream to become a dolphin trainer; she hoped she would do a good enough job at the Marine Park that she would one day be promoted to such a position.

Then, Cleo turned back the way she came, the empty bucket still in her hand.

As she did so, someone watched her: a woman, about sixty-five years old (though you wouldn't think it to look at her), with long, ash blonde ringlets. The woman had been enjoying the dolphin show, but she now watched as the brunette walked away, a slight frown forming on her face. There was something about the girl that she couldn't quite place her finger on; a flicker of something that should have been easily recognisable to the woman, only it wasn't quite there. The woman stood up from her seat.

Meanwhile, Cleo was refilling the empty bucket with more fish to feed the dolphins. It was an easy job so she wasn't paying too much attention, which meant that she didn't realise she'd dropped one of the fish a bit too forcefully into the water in the bucket until the water had already splashed up at her. Under different circumstances, she might have wiped the water off her straight away, but since she was working at the Marine Park and was therefore bound to get wet anyway, she didn't bother, so she continued with her work instead. But, as she did so, she felt herself being watched, and looked up to see a woman standing in the doorway, gazing intently at her, a slight frown on her face.

Cleo looked back at the woman and offered a somewhat uncomfortable smile. "Erm, hello," she said.

The woman continued looking, her frown deepening.

"Uh, can I help you?" Cleo asked as politely as she could.

"No, no, this is all wrong," the woman muttered to herself.

Cleo raised an eyebrow, confused, yet intrigued. "What's all wrong?" she asked softly.

Before the woman could reply, Cleo heard the door behind her opening, and whipped her head around to see Mrs Geddes in the doorway, smiling nonchalantly. "Cleo," she called out, gesturing for her to follow, then disappeared again.

When Cleo turned back to the other doorway, the one the woman had been standing in, the woman was gone.

* * *

"Hey," Cleo greeted her friends, setting her bag down on the floor as she slipped into their booth, beside Lewis and opposite Emma.

"Hey," the other two replied in unison. "How was your first day at the Marine Park?" Emma asked.

"It was good. Great, actually," Cleo corrected herself, for it had been a great day. She'd done everything correctly, and enjoyed it too, and Mrs Geddes seemed pleased with her work. Then an unsettled expression crossed her face as she remembered her encounter with the strange woman. "Although, something a little odd did happen," she added.

"Oh?" Emma said, encouraging Cleo to elaborate.

"Well, I was just doing what Mrs Geddes asked me to, when I realised this woman was watching me. And she said something about everything being wrong. And then she just… vanished."

Emma frowned, as did Lewis, and they exchanged a glance.

Cleo sighed. "Great, now you both think I'm crazy."

"Of course we don't," Emma reassured her. "It's just a little…"

"Crazy," Cleo filled in as Emma trailed off. "Anyway, how's the party planning going?" she asked, deliberately changing the subject.

"Good," Emma nodded. "I'm just going over who to invite."

"All the usual girls?" Cleo asked.

Emma nodded again. "Anyone else you can think of?" she asked.

"How about Rikki?" Lewis piped up for the first time since Cleo had arrived.

"Rikki?" Emma echoed. "Unlikely. She hangs out with Miriam and Tiffany."

"Doesn't mean she's like them," Lewis said.

Cleo cast Lewis a suspicious glance, remembering how he got so worked up about what Zane did to Rikki at Miriam's pool party, then she shook her head slightly as she realised how irrational she was being. Lewis was a nice guy, that was all, there was nothing else going on. "He has a point," she agreed. "Maybe she just got in with the wrong crowd."

Emma considered this, then nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Anyone else?"

Cleo racked her brain. "Don't think so."

"Me either," Emma said. "I guess I'll let my mum know to add Rikki to the list then."

* * *

 **Hey guys, sorry this took so long to get out. I kept putting off writing it and for some reason I kept thinking I'd already done like half of it, then I decided to continue it this morning before I realised that I hadn't actually started it. Awkward. So yeah, I did this all in one morning, so it might not be my best work (though none of this is really my best work lmao).**

 **Also, the episode that comes after Pool Party is Catch of the Day (the episode where they think Cleo's dad is catching turtles and Cleo gets caught in the net) but since that episode kind of centres around them being mermaids I couldn't really find a way to work that into the plot. So, although I do plan to follow the original plot somewhat, with changes of course, there are some parts that I will miss out if they're too mermaid-centric and I can't find a way to involve them in this plot.**

 **Oh, and as for the reviews -**

 **mermaidbyheart: I'm not going to explicitly say that Rikki and Lewis will become a thing (I haven't even decided myself yet, to be honest) but I do like the pairing, although I ship Clewis too. And Zikki. Honestly, I ship lots of things, canon or not, so the romance side of the story could go in any random direction lol. Thanks for your review. :)**


	6. Chapter Five

**Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a really long time. Unfortunately, my nan had cancer for a while and she got worse around the time I posted the last chapter, and she passed away a little over a month ago. So things have obviously been** _ **suboptimal**_ **, to say the least. I haven't really been in the mood to write lately but I hope to start updating more often (although I do have exams in a few months so I will be busy with those). My nan always loved to read all of my stories and I know she'd want me to continue writing, so I will. Not to mention she** _ **loved**_ **H2O almost as much as I do. She used to ask me to put it on so we could watch it together, and she even started watching Mako Mermaids by herself at home. :')**

 **Anyways, I'll get on with the story now.**

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

A murmur of excitement could be heard in the JuiceNet Café as every single person on Emma's guest list, who all just so happened to be in the café at the exact same time as her, received text messages inviting them to the sleepover.

Rikki's phone went off too, and she picked it up off the table to see who the text was from. She was surprised to see she too had been invited to the party; she'd never even spoken to Emma. Of course, there had been that brief incident in the bathroom at the mall, the day she'd ditched Miriam and Tiffany in some girly boutique, but even then it was Cleo who had spoken to her, not Emma.

"Who's that from?"

Rikki looked up from her phone to see Miriam staring at her intently, a perfectly shaped eyebrow raised.

"Uh, just my dad," Rikki lied. She wasn't sure why she lied; she just had a feeling Miriam wouldn't approve of her being invited.

"Oh," Miriam said, then let out a twinkling laugh. "For a moment I thought you'd been invited to Emma's party."

Rikki laughed too, a little awkwardly, and she wasn't sure what to say. Luckily, Miriam started to talk again without even giving her a chance to reply. "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if we just sort of turned up at the party?"

Rikki frowned. "You mean, crash the party?"

Miriam smirked. "I guess you could call it that. You in?"

"Oh, um, I'm not sure…" Rikki trailed off. She knew no one would be mad at her for turning up - she _had_ received an invitation, after all - but she had a feeling Emma would regret inviting her if she brought Miriam along.

Miriam turned to Tiffany, who was also sitting with them around a table in the middle of the café. "Tiffany?"

"I can't, sorry. I have plans with my mum."

Miriam rolled her eyes, then turned back to Rikki. "So, are you in or not?"

Rikki didn't want to say yes, but under Miriam's intense stare, she wasn't sure she could say no either. "I… Okay," she agreed at last.

* * *

"So, what kind of party is this anyway?" Rikki asked as she perched on the edge of Miriam's four-poster bed, fiddling with the beads sewn into her pink duvet cover, watching as Miriam herself sat in front of her mirror touching up her makeup.

"It's a sleepover," Miriam said, picking up an eyeliner pencil lying on her vanity.

Rikki leaned forward, raising an eyebrow. "A sleepover?" she echoed.

"Yeah," Miriam replied vaguely, concentrating on doing her eyeliner.

"So, basically just a bunch of girls painting each other's nails and having pillow fights?" Rikki asked.

"I guess."

"So, no boys? No music? No dancing?"

"Probably not." Miriam lifted the pencil from her eyelid and inspected her reflection, then moved on to the other eye once she was satisfied. "Why all the questions?" she asked.

"No reason. Just… it sounds kinda boring, you know? Why bother crashing a sleepover, of all things?" Rikki hoped Miriam wouldn't get annoyed at her for asking, but sleepovers really weren't her scene. In fact, she couldn't believe they were anyone's scene.

"Rikki, think about it," Miriam said. "Emma's having a sleepover. She didn't invite us to the sleepover. She should know by now that if we're not invited to a party, we're bound to crash it, so she's practically asking for us to go."

Rikki bit her lip. "No offense, Miriam, but that is some seriously flawed logic. Why _would_ Emma invite us? From what I've seen, you two aren't exactly the best of friends, and I'm just some new girl who tags along with you."

Miriam dropped her eyeliner pencil back onto her vanity, not bothering to put the lid back on, and swivelled her chair around to face Rikki. "Look, you're new here, so I'll make an exception, but I'm in charge here, okay? What I say goes, and you don't question it. If I say we're crashing Emma's party, we're crashing Emma's party. Got it?"

"I, uh… Got it," Rikki said, nodding. And just like that, the threatening look on Miriam's face vanished, and she spun her chair back around, plastering a sweet smile on her face.

"Now, which colour lipstick?" she asked, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

"Uh, pink?" Rikki suggested. She assumed Miriam would be pleased with that choice - if there was one thing that girl loved, it was the colour pink.

"But which shade of pink?" Miriam persisted, and Rikki slumped against the cushions behind her. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

 **Ignore the slight sarcasm at the beginning. The thing I really never got about this episode was why Emma got her mum to text invitations to everyone if practically everyone who got invited was in the café, where Emma also was, just sitting at a different table to her, and she could have easily gone around the café and invited them all in person within five minutes lmfao. Also, I know this chapter is kind of short but I plan to update again within the next few days and hopefully the next chapter will be longer.**

* * *

 _EmmaleeLikesMermaids_ **Aw, thanks. :) And yeah, I do plan to add Charlotte and Bella to the story, as well as all the other characters who appear in the actual show, though it will be later on in the story.**

 _mermaidbyheart_ **Thanks for your review. :) The whole connected-to-the-water thing will gradually develop further, it's leading up to something. That's all I'll say about that for now.**

 _Guest_ **Are you the same guest who has already reviewed about Ash twice, by any chance? ;) Thanks for your suggestion, I'll take it into account. :) Suggestions are welcome from anyone at any time.**


	7. Chapter Six

**IMPORTANT(ish): So I was rereading previous chapters, 'cause I never actually proofread any of them when I originally posted them lmao, and I realised that I forgot to include a scene in Chapter Three, when they were at Miriam's pool party. This is why you should always remember to proofread, kids. Anyhow, I've gone back and added it in so you can go read it if you haven't, but if you don't want to, what basically happened is that, when Emma left Cleo and Lewis talking alone at Miriam's pool party, she ran into Byron at the beach (like they do in the episode) and they just chatted for a bit. As I said, you can go back and read it if you want, but it wasn't a particularly important scene or anything so I figured I'd just quickly recap it here for those of you too lazy to go back lmao.**

* * *

 **Chapter Six**

"Em, are you sure alfalfa and blackcurrant juice is really the way you want to go?" Cleo asked, glancing dubiously at the juices on the kitchen counter in front of her.

As Cleo spoke, Emma set down the pillows she'd brought downstairs from her room on the floor, in front of the television, and turned around to give Cleo a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Cleo started, making her way around to the other side of the counter as Emma walked over to a pile of blankets, "I just thought maybe this year you could try something new."

Emma picked up a blanket from the pile and walked back towards the TV. "Like what?" she asked, chucking the blanket onto the floor alongside the pillows.

Cleo shrugged. "Sugar," she suggested.

Emma laughed, as if Cleo had said something ridiculously funny. "Sure, and why don't we just have full cream milk whilst we're at it?" she said sarcastically. "That's just crazy talk."

Cleo pulled a face while Emma was looking away, but didn't say anything. Knowing Emma, she'd probably start lecturing Cleo on the dangers of too much sugar in your diet and how it at least doubled your chances of heart disease - a fact Cleo knew because Emma had already lectured her on it multiple times.

A knock at the front door jolted Cleo out of her thoughts.

"That must be the guests," Emma said, making her way over to the door, being careful not to tread on one of the many pillows and blankets on the floor. She disappeared round the corner and, a second later, Cleo heard the front door click open.

"Hi, come in!" Emma exclaimed. "Right on time!"

* * *

Before long, almost everyone had arrived, and the living room was full of chatty teenage girls. Emma and Cleo stood by the front door, talking as they waited for the last couple of guests to arrive. Someone sitting in the corner of the room turned up the music.

The doorbell rang. Emma turned away from Cleo to open the door, and came face to face with Miriam.

"I don't know which one of my numbers you sent my invitation to," Miriam said, barging past Emma into the house, "but it managed to get lost." Rikki trailed in behind her.

Emma exchanged glances with Cleo, then looked back to Miriam. "Glad you could make it," she said, summoning up a sarcastic smile.

"Miriam!" a shrill voice exclaimed suddenly, and Emma's mum appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "What a delightful surprise! I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Hi, Mrs Gilbert," Miriam said, smiling sweetly.

"What is Miriam doing here?" Cleo hissed, as Miriam hugged Emma's mum.

Emma shrugged reproachfully. "I guess she tagged along with Rikki."

"I knew inviting Rikki was a bad idea," Cleo said, bitterly.

But as she spoke, Rikki drifted away from Miriam and joined Emma and Cleo. "Hey, guys, look, I'm really sorry about Miriam coming," she said quietly. "I didn't really know how to stop her. I can try and get rid of her, if you want."

Emma shook her head. "No, no, it's fine. You go enjoy the party."

Rikki nodded and walked back to Miriam, who was chatting with Mrs Gilbert.

"Okay, maybe Lewis was right about Rikki," Emma said. "At least she apologised."

Cleo shrugged. "Yeah, maybe," she agreed grudgingly.

"Hey, are you okay?" Emma asked.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be okay?" Cleo replied.

"You seem… I don't know." Emma wracked her brain for the correct word. "Annoyed."

"Of course I'm not annoyed," Cleo snapped. "Why would I be annoyed?"

Emma just shrugged. She could see there was something bothering her friend, but she could also see she didn't want to talk about it, so she decided to leave it, for now at least.

Emma's mum appeared, then, in front of Cleo and Emma, having finished her conversation with Miriam.

"Emma, something's just come up at work," Mrs Gilbert said, "so I need to leave. I don't know when I'll be back, but it will probably be quite late. Obviously your father and Elliot are out camping so you'll have the house to yourself, but I'm sure you'll be able to manage, with all your friends over."

"Of course, Mum," Emma said. "We'll be fine."

"Good," Mrs Gilbert said, smiling. "No boys, though, okay?"

Emma laughed. "Don't worry, I don't think any boy would even want to come to this," she said, gesturing to the rather girly atmosphere of the place. "You can trust me."

"I know, I know," Mrs Gilbert said. "I'll be off then. Bye girls."

"Bye," Emma and Cleo chorused. And Mrs Gilbert was gone.

"Hey, did your mum just leave?" Miriam asked, still standing on the other side of the door.

"No, Miriam, she walked out of the front door, with her car keys, so she could go to bed," Emma replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"All right, all right, chill," Miriam said. "Come on, Rikki," she added over her shoulder, beginning to head towards the living room, where everyone else was. As she seemed to have been doing a lot lately, Rikki followed her.

"Gee, what a nightmare," Emma muttered as they walked away. Cleo snorted beside her.

* * *

The doorbell rang again. "I wonder who that is?" Emma said, frowning; all the guests had already arrived. She made her way over to the door and, when she pulled it open, a group of guys she vaguely knew from school were standing in the doorway.

"Uh, hi?" she said uncertainly, but they pushed past her into the house without replying.

As they walked inside, she noticed that Zane was amongst the group. She grabbed his arm and pulled him aside. "Zane, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Chill," he said, glancing at her hand on his arm. She loosened her grip. "Nate called me and said there was a party at your place," Zane continued.

"A party?" Emma echoed. "I'm having a sleepover, yeah, but there are no boys allowed. You guys weren't invited."

"Well, according to Nate, we were invited," Zane said.

Emma let out a frustrated groan and let go of Zane's arm completely and stormed over to Nate, yanking him away from his friends. "Hey!" he protested. "What did you do that for?"

"Why did you tell Zane you were invited to my party?"

"Because I was invited," Nate replied, irritated. "Can I go now?"

"Who invited you?" Emma persisted.

"Miriam," said Nate.

Emma sighed. _Miriam_. She should have known.

* * *

 **Ugh I finished writing this chapter yesterday and I completely forgot to post it smh.**

 **Um, I'm not sure what Emma's mum's job is, or if she even has a job, so I don't know if it's the kind of thing that would require her to have to rush out late at night, but just go with it lmao.**

* * *

 _mermaidbyheart_ **Thanks for your review. :)** **I sent you a PM but i figured I'd put something here too, even though it's kinda pointless because I'm not actually saying anything in response to you but ? idk**

 _Guest_ **Tbh I can understand being obsessed with Ash, he was pretty good looking lmao. Him and Emma were really cute together as well. Thanks for your review. :)**


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